- Film Review
- Reviewed By David Parkinson
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1 out of 5
Paul Gross, the former star of TV series Due South, overreaches himself here as the star, writer and director of this embarrassing melodrama that clearly has aspirations to being the Canadian equivalent of Peter Weir's Gallipoli (1981). Gross plays dashing Sergeant Michael Dunne, who is wounded in a heroic attack and returns to Calgary to serve in the recruiting office of a blustering British officer (Jim Mezon). There, Dunne swaggers his way into the lives of morphine-addicted nurse Sarah Mann (Caroline Dhavernas) and her brother David (Joe Dinicol), who is determined to join up despite his debilitating asthma. It's Gross's direction that makes this so excruciating, with the climactic battle sequences being so weighed down by trite religious symbolism that they insult the memory of everyone who fell in the trenches. Gregory Middleton's photography is fine, but the dialogue is wincingly anachronistic and the performances rarely rise above risible caricature.
Plot Summary
First World War drama directed by and starring Paul Gross. Canadian soldier Michael Dunne returns to Calgary from France to recover from his wounds and falls in love with a nurse, Sarah. But when her younger asthmatic brother goes off to fight in Europe, Dunne is forced to return to the battlefield to protect him.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Michael Dunne
- Paul Gross
- Sarah Mann
- Caroline Dhavernas
- David Mann
- Joe Dinicol
- Cassie Walker
- Meredith Bailey
- Randolph Dobson-Hughes
- Jim Mezon
- Highway
- Michael Greyeyes
- Colonel Ormond
- Adam Harrington
- Royster
- Gil Bellows
- Skinner
- James Kot
- Peters
- Jesse Frechette
- Dr Walker
- David Ley
Crew
- Director
- Paul Gross
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